Christmas message,
1997

By the grace of God Archbishop of Australia
To all the Clergy and devout faithful of our Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese

Dear brother Concelebrants and beloved
children in Christ who is born,

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent
his Son,

born of a woman, born under the law,

in order to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as children" (Gal.
4:4-5).

Throughout the Holy Scriptures, in all the books of both
the Old and New Testament, another passage which expresses
the most inaccessible truths of faith and salvation, with so
few and simple words, will surely not be found. What is even
more amazing is that these truths are presented by the
Apostle Paul with the most crystalline theological
coherence, such that they are an endless consolation
and edification for all of us.

Time, and especially the meaning of time, sin and
repentance (in their mysterious dialectical
relationship), the Incarnation of God (as the
ultimate glory of kenosis or self-emptying), and its
final product -which ensures for the faithful the
"adoption" by grace precisely because of the
synergy of divine and human factors are all presented
in summary form epigrammatically in just three lines. Yet,
these three lines must remain separated in the way that they
appear above, so that the truths which are so
comprehensively contained in them may be accessed more
easily and seen more powerfully.

Having separated the three parts, we can clearly discern
that the first speaks about the time, the second
about the manner, and the third about the
purpose of the divine Incarnation. It is of great
significance that the truth of the Church concerning these
three major points is formulated correctly, otherwise fatal
heresies could arise which would make the central mystery of
salvation totally unapproachable.

The first line naturally contains the pivotal point of
the divine Incarnation itself. However, it does not
mention it vaguely and generally, as if it were a timeless,
almost mythical, event. Here, what is decisive is
when and how. This is why the Incarnation is
placed in its salvific context of salvation, which is time
and indeed the "fullness of time". If the divine Incarnation
occurs for the salvation of people who struggle within
time, then it is only natural that the demonic
character of mathematical time cannot be conquered without
the moral fullness of time, which the Bible describes
as "kairos". In other words, time cannot be acknowledged or
even experienced as the opportunity given by God to return,
unless we are led through the despair of apostasy to
the cognition which ultimately confesses that
"behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).

Therefore, the "fullness of time" comes to show us that
the entire course of human history before Christ, while full
of contradictory elements and tragic
retrogressions, did not end in general bankruptcy and
total futility, since "God desires everyone to be saved and
to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4).

Thus the meaningless adventures of world history
end up with the meaningful history of God, and this
is precisely why we speak of "the mystery of the Lord's
divine economy according to the flesh".

The second point which speaks of the manner of
God's incarnation is no less consoling and encouraging. God
tells us that, out of extreme love for humankind, he
condescended to "empty Himself' within daily human
conditions in order to experience all the pain and
affliction of this life, while teaching us to resist
whatever would try to separate us from God, which is sin. He
who gave the Law in order to instruct us, places His own
self "under the Law" out of love for His creation. For our
sake, He was willing to undergo utter humility and
obedience to the will of the Father in order to lead
us through the obstacles of this world to the freedom of
being children of God.

When we say "children of God", we already touch upon the
theme of the third point, which is "adoption" by Grace. When
the incarnate Word of God becomes "obedient unto death",
when "the maker of the Law", obeys the Law, when the only
sinless One suffers and is crucified "for our sins", then
assuredly we have the miracle, beyond all human
understanding and expectation, of our transformation from
"children of wrath" to children of adoption.

Since the incarnate sinless Lord Himself was "tempted"
and "suffered" in the world, not in an imaginary way
(by appearance only), but in truth, it follows that
His own Passion has a transformative power for our
"liberation". This is the essence of the teaching of the
Apostle Paul when he states: "for in that He Himself has
suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are
tempted" (Heb. 2:18).

Following all of the above, we can say in conclusion that
"the fullness of time" ultimately showed the
fullness of the love of God, so that the fullness of
the human image in divine likeness could also
be revealed.

Therefore, just as they speak of Christ as the "second
Adam", the Fathers also speak of the Incarnation as the
"second creation".

In response to this 'repetition" of creation on the part
of God, we can only pray and repent "again and again", just
as we say in the Divine Liturgy.

May God, who has granted everything for our salvation,
never exclude us from the peace and goodwill of the divine
Incarnation. Amen.

Christmas 1997

With fervent prayers for all of you.

Archbishop STYLIANOS
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in
Australia